I went to Sherwin Williams today to discuss using lacquer on some baltic birch plywood drawers I built for under steps storage in my garage. I left with a gallon of Sher-Wood CAB Acrylic Lacquer, and a head full of confidence. The SW sales person gave me the spec sheet for the lacquer, and it calls for 1200-1800 psi airless sprayer with an .011"-.015" tip. I've been looking at Graco and Wagner units, trying to figure out what will work best for me, but there are a lot of models to choose from. None of them seem to say they are specifically for use with Lacquer, they tend to use loose terms like compatible with paints, stains, and seal coats. I don't know which brand or model is right for me.

My goal is to be able to lacquer my larger projects, saving finish time, and minimizing the wait between coats. These drawers I plan to spray are pretty big (42"x42" approximately), and I have several larger speaker cabinets to spray yet this summer. I sprayed the trim in my house 17 years ago (before installation) with Sher-Wood and an airless sprayer loaned from SW, and it worked pretty good. SW only will sell me a sprayer now, and the ones they have are expensive professional models.

I've tried Watco brushing lacquer on previous projects, and the results were not good. Probably my fault with pour technique but it was still a mess. My hope is with the right product, and the right sprayer, I can lay down some nice coats in a timely fashion, and get a beautiful finish.

I'm willing to spend up to about $350 for a sprayer. If that won't get me anything that will work good, I'll have to keep saving for something more expensive I guess. What do you recommend for me?